-Lucas has been preaching about once a month at our church. In his mentoring of our pastor, Geferson, he is spending some time helping him develop his preaching.  Part of that has been them preaching through a different book of the Bible each month with Lucas doing one of the messages.  It has been really encouraging to see Geferson’s expository preaching style develop and improve each week! This coming Sunday Lucas will be preaching on Titus chapter 1.  It is a great exercise for our continued portuguese development…and he’s getting better everytime!!

-Teresa began teaching an 8 week series on the Titus 2 woman at the weekly ladies Bible study.  After observing these ladies in Bible study for several weeks, God laid it on her heart to offer teaching this series, and so far it has been well received.  Several of the women who attend do not yet know Jesus as their personal savior so the gospel is being strongly offered each week.  Preparing a study weekly for the next two months will prove to be a challenge, but Teresa is really looking forward to the opportunity and the potential ways God can use this study!

-A new visitation program is in full swing!  Every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday night, Lucas takes a different man from our church and is going into homes of neighbors, family members, and people who have visited our church at one time or another to build relationships and share Christ.  It has been exciting to see how receptive people are in the Rincão and how God is also getting these men excited to share Christ!! Teresa is going out on Sunday afternoons with a woman from our church to visit her neighbors as well.  God is putting a passion in the people’s hearts of our church to win the Rincão for Christ!!  Please pray for us as we go out to share Christ and encourage our church people to share as well.

-On March 19, Teresa will be the speaker our church’s evangelistic ladies tea event at the Rincão community preschool.  She will be sharing her testimony along with God’s calling to be a missionary and the drastic change He made in her heart.  They are hoping to sell at least 50 invitations to the event!  Please pray for clear portuguese and that God will use this event to impact the women of this community!!

-On the homefront, we have begun the househunt again.  The energetic Bair boys are bouncing off the walls without a yard, and the addition of 2 large puppies has not helped.  So, we have started looking for a new place to rent with a yard.  It seems a little overwhelming since we just moved into this house, but we expect the process to be a little slow and these boys really need some space to run…outside!!  Please pray that God will lead us to the right home and that we can stay in it for a while!

That’s the latest on the Brazil Bairs.  Thank so much for your continued prayers. We rely on them and are certainly seeing answers to them!!!

I love knowing that so many of you are praying for me and concerned for me.

Thanks so much.

Anyway, I haven’t really wanted to answer.

I know, super nice, huh?

Here you are praying for me, and here I am avoiding you.

Its not you, its me.

I mean that.

No, we’re not breaking up.

Anyway, here’s why.

My last doctor visit, about a month ago, was to a thyroid specialist.

She looked through all my results of all my tests and all the wonderful notes all the doctors have written.  She confirmed that, without a doubt, I do not have a thyroid problem.  Praise the Lord, but we weren’t really too surprised.

She proceeded to tell me that I’m crazy.

Ok, she didn’t, but that’s what I was feeling.

You see, I had an “attack” in the mall food court that felt like I was going to die.  Over the course of the next 2 weeks, we called the doctor several times and went to the ER 3 times.  We thought my life was at risk.

I thought I was dying.

She told me I had anxiety.

Yes, anxiety.

Here’s what she thinks…

For who knows how long, I have had pangastritis, inflamation of the stomach wall.  Pangy(as I will call her) was sound asleep.

Then, October 13th, 2009, we moved to Brazil.  6 days later we became full time language students.  The week before we graduated we moved to a new city.  For 3 weeks we did not have a kitchen.  Within those 3 weeks 4 of us got H1N1.  One of us cracked his head open.  Then our adopted family member moved away.  In the midst of all of that I became a homeschooling mom.

I surprisingly remained quite calm throughout most of it.  God was very gracious.

My stomach seemed to feel a little differently.

She believes that the stress of all that happened over those 13 months “awakened” sleeping Pangy from her deep sleep so abruptly that she was kind of grumpy, henceforth bringing on such severe acid reflux that it caused inflamation in my throat giving the sensation of anaphalactic shock.

Are you following me?

She thinks I was stressed out.

I went to the ER three times because I was stressed out.

Ok, ok, I’m being dramatic. I do, in fact, have a condition that actually made the throat sensations real. But, to sit there and have her tell me its all stressed related?

Doesn’t she know I’m a missionary?!?!?!

We aren’t supposed to have issues like that.

“Hello, pride?  Its me, Teresa.”

I think we all know I have issues.

And that I’m not the only missionary to have issues.

And that all of you reading this have issues.

No offense

Anyway, I guess at first I was a little embarrassed to post on here what the final “diagnosis” was.

Then I had a realization.

I

am

normal.

I have a feeling all of you get stressed out. You may not all rush to the ER, but you have probably felt the same inner panic at some point that I felt for those several weeks.

And you know what?

I’m thankful it happened.

God got my attention!

He used those first 2 weeks to really draw me to Himself.  I was in the Word and praying more during those 2 weeks more than I had been in while.  My walk with Him has been more consistent than it has been in a long time.  He revealed to me that I still have some areas in my life to work through when it comes to fear and death.  He showed me that I have a few control issues.

He reminded me how totally awesome my husband is, how much he loves me, and all he will do to keep me safe.

Love you Lucas Bair!

And now?

My diet is pretty much normal, except I’m still avoiding fishy stuff.  We still plan to pursue a little more testing to get a more solid answer about that potential allergy, but other than that, the testing is done.  My stomach med for pangy runs out tomorrow, so we’ll see how I’m feeling over the next few days. I may be searching out a stomach doctor to pursue another med.

I am full of thankfulness for the medical results and spiritual results.  God is so much better than I deserve.

Thank you so much for all of your prayers.  I suppose many of you will start praying for my sanity after reading this.

Really, I didn’t even know I was stressed out

It is also very expensive.

Back in October, we had been doing some research on their website about prices, and low and behold, for a limited time, if you had 6 kids sign up it was only R$30 a kid!!

Not quite.

The registration fee was only  R$30, the rest of the fee was R$200.

That amount is not really doable for the families of our church.

Unfortunately, we didn’t figure this out until we had a list of kids who were planning on going to camp…for the first time ever.

Grrrr.

We couldn’t just leave them with nothing, so in a month’s time, we planned a 2 day retreat out at Geferson’s dad’s farm!

We had about 12 kids from our church(their friends included) and 8 from a sister church, Comunidade Cristã Sitio Gaúcho, to join us for the 2 days. We started out at a public pool that had a couple of water slides, then moved on to the farm.

There were some challenges throughout day #1.  These 2 groups of kids wanted to stay 2 separate groups of kids, as in, they didn’t really want anything to do with each other.  We even had a couple of fights during a soccer game.

At lunch time we had them pair up with someone from the other church and told them they had till that night to get to know their partner for a “how well do you know your partner” game.

The looks on their faces were priceless.

“What? You mean I have to act like I want to know something about this person? Are you serious?”

But, we started to see them talking a little more to each other throughout the rest of the day.

That night we played the game. They were asked a question about their partner, if they didn’t know the answer, they got a pie thrown in their face.

There were a lot of pies thrown. (And yes, I was forced to throw a pie in Lucas’s face. Forced.)

I left that night before the message and campfire time to take the boys home to sleep. That’s right, I sacrificed myself so the boys could sleep in their own beds instead of with all the spiders and mosquitos and all the other creepy crawly things out there.

I did it for the boys.

I’ll confess my sin of lying later.

Anyway, when I came back the next morning, something had changed.

The feeling in the air was different.

The looks on their faces were different.

They were smiling.

At each other.

They were interacting.

With each other.

We no longer had 2 groups from 2 different churches with a long and complicated history, but one united group of kids who understood and loved each other from all sorts of different walks of life and backgrounds.

It was a night and day difference.

The 2 boys who had fought the day before in a soccer game were totally hanging out together.

Groups of girls from both churches were sitting around sharing about their lives.

They were having fun…together.

They were sharing about what God was doing in their lives…with each other.

By the end of the retreat they were collecting emails and cell phone numbers from each other. They even started planning a grill out together!

The next day, all 8 kids from the Sitio Gaúcho church took a bus over to the Rincão to celebrate one of the Rincão teen’s birthday.

Amazing.

God used this retreat in many ways in these teens lives.

But, the most obvious one to me, was how He showed them that they could help each other. They realized that they understand each other, and that the church baggage from the past is not theirs to carry.

How many of us need to learn from them?

That is, unless I was the one getting on the plane.

But that’s a different post for a different day.

Today was dreaded airport day.

Going to the airport has become a regular part of our lives, we visit it at least once a month.

We go to receive people

We go to send people off

Two weeks ago we visited our lovely Salgado Filho airport to receive Grandma and Grandpa Loder, my parents.

Aren’t they cute?

We had a great time throughout the 2 weeks. We went to the beach, the mountains, area cities and markets, had game nights, and cooked up a storm (oh, and my Mom did my laundry). It was such a blessing to have them here.

Today we returned to the airport for the send-off.

The goodbyes are never fun.

The goodbyes are really hard on the boys, especially Nathaniel.

This time, however, there was a little less heaviness in the goodbye.

It was a see you in 8 months send-off.

We decided to tell the boys we are heading back to the States in the fall for a missions conference at our awesome home church(and when I say awesome, I mean the awesomist in the whole world), Saylorville Baptist.

My heart was so blessed to see the anticipation and hope of a closer reunion on their faces instead of the heartache!!

The actual goodbyes still weren’t easy. We’d be fooling ourselves if we ever think they will be.

I’m just thankful today that we could give our boys something to look forward to in the midst of the goodbye…

And something for Grandma and Grandpa to look forward to…

And for Lucas and I to look forward to…

Thank you Saylorville Church family for inviting us to share our lives with you in October.

God used it to make my boys smile today.

]]> http://www.brazilbairs.com/2011/01/the-dreaded-airport/feed/ 5 http://www.brazilbairs.com/2011/01/happy-new-year-2/ http://www.brazilbairs.com/2011/01/happy-new-year-2/#comments Sat, 01 Jan 2011 09:53:28 +0000 lucasbair@me.com http://brazilbairs.com/?p=331 Happy New Year from the Brazil Bairs!!

2010 was our first full year in Brazil. It was definitely an interesting one!

Filled with many ups and downs, challenges like we’ve never faced before as a family:  Full time students, moved to a new city,  began homeschooling, had a stretch of illnesses, continued to work through heartache of being separated from friends and family.

But God sent many, many blessings our way:  Great new brazilian friends, a church wanting to please the Lord, great new missionary friends, a new closeness as a family, spiritual growth in all our lives, and the list goes on.

What will 2011 bring?  Only the Lord knows.

But  I have confidence that whatever it is, it is the best for the Brazil Bairs.

“As for God, His way is perfect.”

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Isn’t it awesome that we can enter a new decade with the confidence that God already knows what is going to happen every moment?

Isn’t it awesome that we can enter a new decade with the hope that every moment is ordained by our loving God?

We can enter 2011 with no fear of the unknown.

Because, what is unknown to us is always known by God…

And He knew it before time began…

And He allows it in our lives because it is best for us…

and He loves us more than we can comprehend.

So, enter 2011 with confidence in our Lord and His plans for us…

No matter what they may be.

Happy New year!!

Well, I guess it kind of is the question.  Here’s the deal…

Yesterday I visited the general doctor, Dr. Paulo, who had ordered all the testing I’ve had up to this point. We discovered from my stomach biopsy that I have chronic pangastritis.  Oh no!! Actually, its not such a big deal. The wall of my stomach is inflamed causing this non-stop acid reflux. He suspects I have had it for some time, it just chose to inflame with everything else that’s been happening in my body.  So, I started a med today to treat it and help it to calm down.

He said I will have to cut back on coffee.

I haven’t had a cup of coffee in a month.

I miss it.

Anyway…

Today I went to the allergist, Dr. Regina.  I had allergy testing done last weekend. All the tests came back normal. No allergy.

What?

No allergy.

Dr. Paulo still thinks, despite the negative results, that I have an allergy.

The allergist, Dr. Regina, does not think I have an allergy.

She still thinks it is my thyroid.

What?

All my tests came back normal for my thyroid.

She thinks the tests have missed something.  So, off to a thyroid specialist I go.

Before I go to the thyroid specialist, Dr. Julia (I love how they all use their first names), I am doing another round of tests.

Parasite testing (don’t ask)

Thyroid blood tests (new ones)

Complete abdominal ultrasound

I will then, after I follow up with the thyroid specialist, make an appointment with Dr. Julia’s husband, Dr. Julio (seriously), who is an gastroenterologist, to talk more about this pangastritis (big medical words that are difficult to say or spell in any language).

Then, after all of this, if I still don’t have any answers, we will do more allergy testing.  While Dr. Regina does not believe I have a food allergy, she has advised me to stay away from all things of the sea, just in case. If the rest of my testing comes back normal, then she will order some more specific allergy testing.

So, there it is.  The low down of my health.  We are thankful for some answers, but still waiting on some more.  Please pray that we will get some answers in the next few weeks so we can move on and deal with whatever it is.  Thanks so much for your prayers!

I’m going to go drool over Lucas’s coffee now.

These are “cestas básicas” or basic baskets.  They are full of basic food essentials for a brazilian family: rice, beans, flour, pasta, sugar, coffee, and so on.

The people of one of our sister churches in Porto Alegre, Conexão Cristã, purchased 36 of these baskets to give to the people of our church.  We also used it as an outreach opportunity and people invited their non-church going friends to our service to receive a basket as well.

Our church service was the most full I have seen it since we started attending a year ago.

The gospel was shared by Ivis, the pastor of Conexão Cristã…

I think those who gave the baskets felt blessed as well…

Families who at times may not have the money to buy the basic essentials were given what they need to get through the Christmas season.

What now?

Lucas went to the christian bookstore downtown yesterday and purchased a bunch of portuguese New Testament Bibles.  We plan to visit each family in their home, present them with a Bible, and Lord willing present them with the gospel.

This blessing of “cestas básicas” has the potential to grow into so much more.  Please pray with us and we reach out to those who received baskets to tell them about the Bread of Life!

Good news.

I’m totally healthy.

Really?

I don’t feel healthy!

My thyroid is normal.  The cysts on there are nothing to worry about.

My bloodwork was normal.  No irregularities.

My heart is pumping good.  This one I was extra thankful for.

I am praising the Lord that all results up until now have come back totally normal.

But the question still remains.

What is wrong with me?  (Go ahead, crack your jokes.)

Time for more tests.

Tuesday morning I am having an endoscopy.  I have had some severe acid reflux for the last week and a half and we are going to see how exactly it is connected to everything, what is causing it, and why it won’t go away.

The week of the 13th I am going to begin allergy testing.  I say ‘begin’ because I have a feeling it is going to be the first round of several rounds of tests to determine exactly if I have a food allergy and what it is.

So, as of now, we still don’t really know anything.

I have been feeling much more like myself the last couple of days which is a huge praise.  My energy level is back and I haven’t had any major “attacks” where I feel like my throat is closing.  I still feel like I have a lump in my throat, but the doctor thinks that may be from the acid reflux I’m experiencing.  So, as of right now, my biggest discomfort is acid reflux.  I can deal with that.

I have to be extremely careful about what I am eating since we don’t know what I may be allergic to.  You can pray for me about that.  It is very easy to let the fear of accidentally eating something I shouldn’t rule my thoughts.  I don’t want to think on the “what if’s”.  I find myself quoting this verse alot these days.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.   Philippians 4:8

So, that’s the latest.  I really appreciate your prayers. I can certainly feel them. In fact, the night that my situation was shared with our home church, Saylorville Baptist Church, back in Iowa, I slept better than I had slept in days.  I firmly believe that was a direct answer to the prayers of my church family.

So I really mean it when I say I can feel your prayers.  So, thank you.

]]> http://www.brazilbairs.com/2010/12/tests-tests-and-more-tests/feed/ 2 http://www.brazilbairs.com/2010/11/whats-up-with-me/ http://www.brazilbairs.com/2010/11/whats-up-with-me/#comments Mon, 22 Nov 2010 13:18:03 +0000 lucasbair@me.com http://brazilbairs.com/?p=305 Not totally sure.

Here’s the deal.

Friday night, Nov. 12, we were at the mall.  Just after we got done eating, my face, chest, and arms were red and my throat began to get tight.  I could breathe, but it was difficult to swallow.

The first thing that came to our minds was that I was having some sort of allergic reaction.  I didn’t have any food allergies that we knew of, but we didn’t have anything else to go on.  So, after a call to a dr. we know, off to the hospital we went.

The doctor called ahead and they got me right in.  The also assumed it was a food allergy and treated me for it.  Several hours later, they sent me home.  I was not, however, feeling normal yet.

The next few days were full of “flare ups”.  I would hive, my heart would race, and my throat would tighten up.

Wednesday we went to see an allergist.  She put me on some meds.

They didn’t help.

Thursday I had a pretty bad flare up.  Back to the hospital we went.  My allergist called ahead, so they got me right in and treated me for a food allergy.  Several hours later I left, not feeling normal yet.

Friday, I had yet another bad flare up.  This time we went to the downtown hospital close to my allergist’s office.  She tried to call and get me in quickly, but it didn’t work out.  I think this was of the Lord.

They made no assumptions with me this time.  They did not just treat me for an allergy and send me home.

They asked questions and ran tests.

The 2 doctors I saw did not think I had a food allergy.  (But it has not been ruled out)

One in particular thinks I may have a problem with my thyroid.

After an ultrasound, my thyroid looks fine.  We are, however, waiting for some bloodwork to come back.

Tomorrow we pick up the bloodwork and go to yet another doctor to hopefully get some answers.

It has been an exhausting, confusing week.  But God has shown Himself present and good in the midst of it all.

How can you pray?

Pray we get answers.  Tomorrow.  We know it may be a long shot, but it would be such a blessing to leave the doctors office tomorrow with answers and a road to recovery.

Pray that my symptoms subside.  It is difficult to sleep with this constant feeling of pressure in my throat and the occasional racing heart beat.

Pray for Lucas and the kids.  Lucas has been picking up all the slack and has been amazing.  He still plans on preaching his first message in portuguese on Sunday, so pray about that.  The kids are confused and I think a little scared.  Pray God will speak to their little hearts and comfort them.

Yesterday I tried to watch the morning service at my home church online.  Our internet wasn’t working to great, so I only lasted about 10 minutes.  But in that 10 minutes, God gave me what I needed to hear.  Pastor Nemmers was talking about difficulties in our lives and quoted Job 2:10.

“…Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?”

]]> http://www.brazilbairs.com/2010/11/whats-up-with-me/feed/ 2 http://www.brazilbairs.com/2010/11/ministry-and-mullets/ http://www.brazilbairs.com/2010/11/ministry-and-mullets/#comments Tue, 09 Nov 2010 16:26:26 +0000 lucasbair@me.com http://brazilbairs.com/?p=290 Hello.  My name is Teresa Bair and I am a missionary.

That’s my line at my “MA” meetings,  ”Missionaries Anonymous”.

Ok, that was nerdy.

Anyway…

I’ve been a missionary for a year now, but now I’m finally starting to feel like I’m doing what a missionary is supposed to do.

Minster.

Our brazilian pastor, Geferson, had us come up at the end of the service on Sunday night.  He shared with the church people our vision to help them become a healthy church.  They already knew we were there to work with them, Geferson just wanted to make it official.  We also felt the need to have it known that Lucas is not their pastor.  Our plan, Lord willing, is to help them become active in evangelizing their community, grow leaders, and eventually, be our partners in a future church plant down the road someday.

What is this going to look like?

Who really knows.

Just kidding.

Well, kind of kidding.

I do not want to try and paint a picture of something that the Lord will do His way, in His timing.

I can, however, tell you what we are doing right now.

Lucas is meeting almost daily with our pastor Geferson.

They are studying through the book of 1 John together as Lucas teaches Geferson how to do expository preaching.  Lucas is also attending discipleships with Geferson to help them learn how to more effectively make disciples and leaders.  This week he will begin discipling our church’s youth leader, Lucas Feijó (we all call him Feijó).

He always seems to be laughing when we talk to him. I’m not sure if its because we’re odd, or because he has no idea what we say!  Probably both.  He’s a good kid though.

These things are keeping Lucas quite busy along with his preparation for his first sermon in portuguese at the end of the month and the random things that come up during the week.

The majority of my time lately has been trying to get a handle on homeschooling these three crazy boys.

I think we’re figuring this thing out though!

I begin mentoring Geferon’s wife, Márcia, this week.

I just haven’t quite figured out what we’re going to do yet.

I suppose I should get on that.

I am really looking forward to our time together though.

I am also going to their ladies Bible study that meets every other week and trying to visit the ladies in their homes to get to know them better.  I love these ladies!

Márcia has asked me to help them on their worship team.  My plan is not to be a regular singer on Sundays, but to teach them and give them some tools to help their worship leading go a little smoother.  They have such a heart for singing to the Lord!

That’s the ministry part.

Now for the mullet part.

I noticed this morning that his hair was starting to look a little mullet-ish.

Down here, he could totally pull it off. The ’80′s are in full swing…mullets, rat-tails, you name it.  And I know Paul tells us in the New Testament to be all things to all people, but…

I draw the line at mullets.

I declare a hair cut emergency.